San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-07-16
SATURDAY. JULY 16, 1887.
MISUNDERSTANDING UP.

No little bias been said OF late. both
within and without the Knights o! La
Dor assemblies. of the effects Of the dis
sensious and divisions which are kaOwn
to exist in the order upon its actual and
prospective membership. The antag-
onism between the trades unions and
the general executive OF the knights
OF Lsbor-nOtably the Cigarmakers,
Bricklsyers, Carpenters and JOiners,
and the Iron and Steel Workers unions
have certainly depleted the membership
to some extent and caused grave appre-
tensions as to the result among the
friends of labor. These antagonisms
have been seized upon by the enemies
of organized labor, and the report has
been most industriOusIy circulated that
the order is in process Of dissolution;
that it cannot maintain its prestige and
Is doomed to destruction; that Powderly
has mismanaged its affairs and is not
competent to give direction to the head
OF such q mighty organization. 70 al
and sundry Of these charges or prOgnos-
tics as TO the speedy breaking up of the
order, Mr.. POwderly replies in the Jour
nal of United Labor, the official organ
of the order, Ms follows:
ave are breaking up as the plOughman
breaks up the soil for the sowing Of new
seed. We are breaking up Old traditions;
we are breaking up hereditary rights,
and planting everywhere the new seed
OF universal rights; we are breaking up
the idea that money makes the man, and
not moral worth; we are breaking up
the idea that might makes right; we are
breaking up the idea that l. gisatiGn Is
alone for the rich; we are breaking up
the idea that the congress Of the United
States must be run By miIiOnaires for
milliOnaiTes; We are breaking UP the
idea that 4 few men may hold millions
Of acres of untitled land, while other
men stGrye for the want Of one acre; "
are breaking up the practice Of putting
. the labor OF criminals in competition
with.ihe honest labor and starving il to
death; we are breaking up the practice
of importing Ignorance bred of mon
arches and dynamite. in order to dppre-
ciate intelligent skilled labor at home;
we are breaking up the pracTioe of
employing little children In factories.
thus breeding nation Of defOrmed and
prOfligate citizens; we are breaking up
the idea that The man who works with
his hands his need OF neither education
nor civiliZlng retinements; we are break
ing up the ides that the accident Of sex
puts One'half of the human race beyond
the pale OF constitutional rights; we are
breaking up the practice Of paying
woman one third the wages paid men
simply because she is woman; we are
breaking up the Idea that a man may
debauch an innocent girl and shield him
SELF from penalty behind the law he
himself has made; we are breaking up
ignorance, intempernnCe, crime and OPP
pressioR OF whatever character, wher-
ever found. Yes, the Knights OF Labor
are breaking up, and they will continue
their appointed work OF breaking up
until universal rights shall prevail, and
while they may not bring in the mil
lenium, they will do their part in the
evolution Of moral forces that are work
ing for the emancipation of the race"
There Is solid food for reflection in
these words Of the general master work
man of the X. OF L., no matter what the
condition Of his labor host. They
are words that the pulpit and the press,
courts and juries, legislators and gov
erners, moralists and philanthropists
will do well to note. Let the state and
national legislatures pave the way of
national progress here pioneered and
this-Istion will have taken long stride
towards Its millennium.